1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to fasteners and, more particularly, to articulating, pivoting, variable-spacing fasteners.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known in the related art to use a panel-mounting fastener assembly for attaching a decorative panel of a vehicle, such as an automobile, to an overlying or underlying sheet-metal support member. The decorative panel may include a headliner, a door panel, a seat-back panel, or another panel typically having a support backing onto which there is bonded decorative material. The decorative panel may include a resinous-impregnated fibrous-bat material for the support backing and foam-backed upholstery for the decorative material. When the decorative panel includes a headliner, the sheet-metal support member may be a roof beam extended across the roof of the vehicle for providing rigidity to the sheet-metal support member and mounting structure for the headliner.
More specifically, the headliner spans substantially the entire upper surface of the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The sheet-metal support member (sheet metal) is disposed coextensively with and adjacent the headliner opposite the passenger compartment to define substantially the entire interior surface of the roof of the vehicle body. The headliner is assembled to the vehicle body by attaching the headliner to the sheet metal via a plurality of fasteners. In the assembled state, each fastener mounts a predetermined area of the surface of the headliner to an adjacent part of the sheet metal. This predetermined area may be referred to as the “attachment area of the headliner.” The adjacent part of the sheet metal that corresponds to the attachment area of the headliner may be referred to as the “attachment area of the sheet metal.”
Fasteners previously used to attach the headliner to the sheet metal included screws and plastic push-pins. However, these fasteners suffered from several problems. For instance, once the screws and push-pins were installed, the heads thereof were often visible to passengers within the passenger compartment and, thus, aesthetically undesirable. Also, the screws and push-pins and the tools used to assemble them to the headliner damaged the headliner by creating holes through the headliner and stray marks on the surface of the headliner. Moreover, during assembly of the headliner, a hole formed in the sheet metal, but hidden from view, had to be “located by feel” as the assembler attempted to align the hole with the corresponding hole from the headliner. The assembler then had to insert a screw or push-pin into the hole. This effort was time-consuming and cumbersome. Furthermore, due to the extended labor and time involved in attaching/unattaching the headliner and sheet metal to/from each other using these fasteners, the cost to repair the headliner was substantial as well.
In a variant of the type of fastener just described, on the surface of the headliner was mounted an elongated holder defining a track for receiving, at any number of a plurality of spaced locations thereon, one or a plurality of mounting clips. Once secured to the holder, the mounting clip(s) allowed snap-fitting of the headliner to an aperture or respective apertures in the sheet metal. However, this fastener suffered from the same problems described in connection with screws and push-pins.
To overcome these problems, VELCRO® and other, much stronger DUAL LOCK® fasteners were used. These fasteners generally included an attaching piece that was mounted to the attachment area of the headliner. A receiving piece was similarly mounted to a corresponding area of the opposed sheet metal. The attaching and receiving pieces were respectively mounted to form a fastener between the headliner and the sheet metal. More specifically, the attaching piece of the VELCRO® fastener, for example, included an adhesive backing. The adhesive backing was used to mount the VELCRO® to the headliner or sheet metal. When positioning the headliner adjacent the sheet metal during the mounting operation, it was necessary for the respective attaching and receiving pieces to be properly aligned with each other to facilitate proper mounting of the headliner to the sheet metal.
Although these fasteners were not aesthetically undesirable and eliminated the need to “locate by feel” during installation, several problems remained unsolved. For instance, the attaching and receiving pieces of the VELCRO® or other DUAL LOCK® fastener were typically mounted on the headliner and sheet metal, respectively, prior to assembly of the headliner. Thus, proper alignment and engagement of the attaching and receiving pieces with and to each other depended upon their proper prior disposition on the headliner and sheet metal, respectively. The continuity of such alignment and engagement from vehicle to vehicle in the assembly of the headliner also depended upon the structure of the headliner and roof of the vehicle body, in general, and the appropriate surface of the sheet metal, in particular, being consistent from vehicle to vehicle. Furthermore, direct pressure had to be manually applied to the attaching piece against the receiving piece for approximately thirty seconds to ensure adherence of any adhesive backing to the receiving piece. From an ergonomics perspective, then, these fasteners were problematic. And, apart from ergonomics, the DUAL LOCK® fastener was unable to articulate and, thus, conform to the contour of the surface of the sheet metal.
To overcome these problems, use of magnets as a fastener was introduced. In one example, a relatively small, substantially rectangular magnet was supported on a foam pad mounted on a carrier. In turn, the carrier included an injection-molded base. The magnet, carrier, and base together comprised a fastener relative to the opposed sheet metal.
To assemble the headliner, many of these fasteners were strategically disposed on the appropriate surface, or substrate, of the headliner. Then, the fasteners were moved toward the sheet metal with the faces of the respective magnets substantially parallel with the sheet metal. The magnets were magnetically attracted to the sheet metal to sufficiently mount the headliner to the sheet metal. However, the roof of an automobile body is generally curved, and the carrier and base did not permit the fastener to conform to the contour of a curved sheet-metal surface.
Despite the advantages over its predecessors, this fastener still posed some problems. For example, as more and more headliners become modular, ductwork, wiring components, and other components are supported between the headliner and the sheet-metal roof of the vehicle body. These components require space between the sheet metal and the headliner. The amount of space separating the headliner and the sheet metal is a design consideration in the manufacture of the vehicle that varies from vehicle to vehicle. These variations resulted in increased tooling costs for fasteners of this type.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the related art for a fastener that articulates such that the fastener can conform to the contour of a curved sheet-metal surface, pivots such that the attachment area of the headliner can be attached to the attachment area of the sheet metal at varying angles, and accommodates a varying space presented between the headliner and the sheet metal in the assembled state of the headliner, but does not stretch under the influence of heat.